A couple of months ago, Mrs. ABATTBQ11 got little ABATTBQ11 a seed kit from Target as a fun learning experiment. They started out with watermelon, strawberry, and tomato seeds in little cardboard cups.

Flash forward to now. We didn't have anywhere for the strawberries or watermelons, and they... didn't make it. The tomatoes ended up in a planter outside and are now pushing ~30 inches and have topped their tomato cage. They've gotten a few flowers, but no tomatoes yet.

I was reading that sustained heat, like what we've had in South Texas lately, can cause them to not bear fruit. Should I bring them indoors? Should I just move them to shade? If they produce tomatoes, when should we expect to see them?

Anything I should look out for? We had leaf miners, but took care of those pretty quick. Anything I should it should not fertilize with?

They need to be spanked. Seriously, take a broom handle and beat the crap out of them. The stress should cause them to start blooming.

Dogdoc said:

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They need to be spanked. Seriously, take a broom handle and beat the crap out of them. The stress should cause them to start blooming.

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Seriously?

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Ok... I looked it up. You're right! I've never heard of this...

Spank your tomatoes

sleepybeagle said:

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Dogdoc said:

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They need to be spanked. Seriously, take a broom handle and beat the crap out of them. The stress should cause them to start blooming.

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Seriously?

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Ok... I looked it up. You're right! I've never heard of this...

Spank your tomatoes

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- Ok, Gonna go Spank the Tomatoes and give them some Gibby Acid . Will take Before and After Pics.

We used to use an old sonicare in grad school to improve pollination.

But when night temps are this high, you'll get a lot of pollen death and poor fruit set, unless it's a real heat resistant variety.

Esteban du Plantier said:

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We used to use an old sonicare in grad school to improve pollination.

But when night temps are this high, you'll get a lot of pollen death and poor fruit set, unless it's a real heat resistant variety.

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I honestly have no idea what variety it is. Nighttime temps have been getting into the 70's-80's, but the 100+ days are what worry me with fruit set. Should I be?

Yeah, night temps above 80-85 cause pollen to be less viable and you'll get bloom loss.

Thanks!

Generally the larger the tomato the cooler it had to get in the evening for the fruit to set

Thanks. No idea how large the variety is. It came from a kit for kids. The plant itself is doing great though. Measured it last night, and it was at 36".

Should I bring it inside in the evenings? It's in a planter, so it wouldn't be a big deal. How much does the daytime heat matter?

I doubt you'll get any fruit this time of year. If you can keep them alive until fall, they should produce then.

I had two tomatoes set within the past 3 nights. I live in Huntsville and was amazed since I have always been told the 70* was gospel. Apparently not.

ETA: These are all Celebrity variety

I typically plant my tomatos in March in Houston. That way they are hardy enough to withstand the Texas heat come summertime. My celebrity hybrid, roma, and cherry tomatos have done fantastic this year. They had a lot of fruit and I was able to start harvesting in late May.

First time planter garden in Austin and I'm doing OK with one of our large tomato plants, but the heat is taking it's toll on some of the leaves/branches. They are in full sun from 10AM to 4PM.

Martin Cash said:

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I doubt you'll get any fruit this time of year. If you can keep them alive until fall, they should produce then.

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Wasn't really expectong any right now, but saw some flowers and got curious. That's when I read about the heat and wanted to know if I should be doing anything different to get them to produce later.

You aren't going to make any appreciably decent fruit this time of year with tomatoes in our part of the state. At this point, if they have not succumb to heat stress, disease, and pests then they are just hoping to survive until cooler weather. If they do, then when that weather hits, they'll be good to go and produce for you. What I typically do is take my tore up old ragged plants and I pick the best 'vine' I can and bury part of it. In a few weeks, that vine will have rooted and I can cut off the entirety of the mother plant and have a nice clean tomato plant ready to rock and roll. If you want to go crazy, you can pull a few nice suckers and clone brand new plants.


Tomatoes in April:




Tomatoes in July-September

Well, the plant itself is super happy. Pushing 42" now. It's grown appreciably in the last week. Lots of small, newer leaves that are growing too. Hopefully we'll get done good tomatoes in the next couple of months.

Prune those suckers out of crotchs where branches come off stems.

What do you mean?

Those shoots growing off a main stem that grow between the stem and a branch that is growing off to one side. They pop out right in the crotch between the stem and the branch. I'm drunk so that may confuse you. Just google pruning suckers on a tomato plant.

Lol. Stem, branch, and shoot are all the same thing botanically speaking.

Larry S Ross said:

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Those shoots growing off a main stem that grow between the stem and a branch that is growing off to one side. They pop out right in the crotch between the stem and the branch. I'm drunk so that may confuse you. Just google pruning suckers on a tomato plant.

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No worries. I googled it. Enjoy it!

Well, after many months of growing, a catastrophic caterpillar attack, and some freezing temps, we got a tomato. There's a few more green ones on it as well.